CSUN On Point

At this year’s Oscars, on the same night that the Disney film “Encanto” won Best Animated Feature, presenters Lily James, Halle Bailey, and Naomi Scott — who’ve all played Disney princesses — seemed to make jokes at the film’s expense.

“So many kids watch these movies over and over…,” they said, “and over and over and over and over… I think some parents out there know exactly what we’re talking about.” 

The quote rubbed many animators, and fans of animated films, the wrong way. It highlighted a feeling that animated films don’t get the same recognition as live action films, and often get snubbed at award ceremonies.

But why aren’t animators recognized? In a global pandemic that put live-action filming on hold — directors, actors, producers all had to stay at home — animation studios were able to carry on to make millions of dollars.

“They’ve (Animation Studios) made more money than any studio out there,” said Aglaia Mortcheva, an animator and CSUN Professor. “Also Pixar probably has the most humanistic stories in cinema in the last ten years.”

But the notion that animated films are primarily for children may be one of the reasons why they don’t have the reputation of live action films.

“We do have kids’ animation, but …  these creators have spent so much time making these animations so that they are not [films] you have to endure,” said Victoria Davis, a journalist for the Animation World Network. “They’re incredibly insightful and educational. And it’s pretty amazing to me that people still think that this is a kids genre.”

Despite animation’s reputation as a genre for children, there are animated shows intended for adults like “The Simpsons” and  “South Park.”

“The Simpsons” has been airing since 1989 and “South Park” has been airing since 1997. Some of the longest running shows are animated programs that not only make a lot of money but also shows that have huge fan bases.

During the pandemic, animators kept producing film for their shows since they didn’t need to be in-person to film. Even though animators continued to write, draw, and organize animated shows, the recognition is still not there compared to live action films. 

One issue the animation industry faces is pay equity.

According to The Real News Network, animators “have struggled with gross pay inequity, limited opportunities for advancement, and fewer crediting and residual compensation guarantees than their live-action counterparts.”

These factors often push animators to graduate to live action film, they say, since the pay and recognition is better.

“We know [animation] is so labor intensive,” said Kristin Donner, an animator for Nickelodeon & Warner Brothers, “and it takes so many people to create just a minute. These are real people with real bills to pay and need to be compensated accordingly.” 

One small way to improve animators’ recognition?

Oscar winning animators Phil Lord and Christopher Miller suggested the Academy Awards could invite a respected filmmaker to present the Best Animated Film award.

“Framing the five Academy Award nominees for Best Animated Feature as a corporate product for kids,” they wrote, “that parents must begrudgingly endure could be dismissed as simply careless.”

This show was produced by Stephanie Gurewitz, Noe Ortega, Mica Thomas and Sophia Vasquez

After 64 years behind the mic, Jaime Jarrín, the voice of the Los Angeles Dodgers’ Spanish-language broadcasts, plans to retire at the end of the 2022 season.

Jarrín began calling Dodgers games in 1959, the team’s second year in L.A. after leaving Brooklyn, joining the team’s first Spanish-language voice, René Cárdenas.

This was just four years after Jarrín left his home country of Ecuador. Jarrín already had experience working for radio outlets there, but he says he wanted to achieve things that he couldn’t ever achieve in Ecuador. At the age of 19, he came to the United States with his wife Blanca and his oldest son Jorge.

Jarrín was the news and sports director at Los Angeles radio station KWKW when his bosses picked up the rights to broadcast Dodger games in Spanish.

Through his voice, Jarrín became a link between generations of Spanish-speaking immigrants and the game of baseball. 

Since then, he’s been inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame — the second Spanish language announcer to receive that honor. He is also part of Dodgers Ring of Honor. The National Association of Hispanic Journalists honored him in 1998 with their highest award and Jarrín received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

In 2017, Jarrín became the longest tenured active baseball broadcaster. His son Jorge, who followed his father into broadcasting, says

Jarrín is now considered a pioneer who paved the way for future Spanish-language baseball broadcasters in the United States.

Now 86 years old, Jarrín had been thinking about the decision to retire for a few months before he made it public. To the L.A. Times, he referred to his job as a vacation because he likes it so much. 

Dodger broadcasters Jaime Jarrín (left) and Vin Scully (right) (Photo courtesy of the Jarrín family)

He has called three perfect games – Sandy Koufax in 1965, Tom Browning in 1988 and Dennis Martinez in 1991 — 22 no-hitters, 30 World Series and 30 All-Star games. In 1981, he worked as Dodger pitcher Fernando Valenzuela’s interpreter. Ratings for the station carrying the Dodgers’ Spanish-language broadcasts at the time, KTNQ, more than doubled. Valenzuela is now one of Jarrín’s broadcast partners.

Throughout the years, baseball was not the only subject Jarrín covered. He reported on the Olympics, boxing and soccer matches. He’s also covered non-sporting events, reporting on political meetings, President John F. Kennedy’s funeral and Pope John Paul II’s visit to America.

He also called games with his son Jorge Jarrín for the last six seasons before Jorge retired in February of 2021. They were the first ever father-son broadcasting duo to call baseball games on Spanish-language radio.

“Most people couldn’t believe I chose to retire before my father,” Jorge said. 

Jaime (left) and Jorge Jarrín (Photo courtesy of the Jarrín family)

Jamie Jarrín is shifting priorities. He now plans to spend more time with his family: his two sons, grandchildren and travel more. This season, he’s stopped traveling with the team, only calling Dodger home games. 

Jarrín was on the road a lot with the Dodgers throughout the years. Baseball came first and his family second. Now it is his family’s time to come first and Dodgers second.

“It hasn’t hit me yet,” Jarrín said of his decision to retire, “but I think, close to the end of the season, I’m sure it will be quite different. I look forward to finishing the season and we’ll see what happens.”

This story was reported by Sofie Bredahl, David Reyes and Daniel Sandoval

These days, just looking at a gas price sign can be stressful. And for some, buying gas may be an expense that breaks their budget.

The Auto Club of Southern California says the average price of gas in L.A. has risen more than 40% since this time last year. The average gallon of regular now costs around $5.70.

Although California gas prices are dropping, California still has the highest gas prices in the nation.

In some locations, premium gasoline can reach $7 per gallon –  leaving commuters wondering: Why is gas so expensive here?

“It’s multiple answers, it’s a whole bunch of things spread out over a period of time,” said Mark Lacour, editor in chief for Oil and Gas Global Network, who has been in the oil and gas industry for over 25 years.

Some of the answer has to do with the war in Ukraine, which caused a spike in energy prices worldwide. But a number of other factors keep California’s gas prices consistently higher than the national average.

Among the many factors: the price at the pump reflects both federal and state taxes, said Jimmy Troderman, an economist at U.S. Energy Information Administration.

Drivers currently pay an extra 51 cents per gallon, which the state uses to fund the transportation department and highway repairs.

“So in California, they have the second-highest gasoline tax,” Troderman said, “but then once fees are added, they have the highest tax.” said .

Another driver of California’s high gas prices: regulation.

Since 1995, state lawmakers in conjunction with the Environmental Protection Agency have required California’s oil refineries to produce cleaner-burning fuel to improve air quality — and that cleaner blend is more expensive.

“And then there are geographical factors,” Troderman added. “California is not close to most of the refining hubs in the U.S. and they don’t have the ability to import gasoline through pipelines because they don’t really have many interstate pipelines… Recently, in March, a couple of the refineries in California went down temporarily, which contributed to higher prices.” 

LaCour added that seasonal factors also affect the price of gasoline.

“We have two blends of fuel in this country. We have a winter blend and a summer blend,” LaCour said, “so every time we switch to the other blend — and this is to keep air quality high to reduce pollution — there’s a bump in prices and we are ready to see it soon when the summer blend gets released…

“The refineries part of the industry that turns crude oil into gasoline — into fuels — operates at a really low margin,” LaCour added, “so any increase in their cost is automatically passed on to the consumer.”

According to AAA, California’s gas currently costs almost $1.60 more per gallon than the national average. 

The recent spike in prices has prompted calls for relief.

Governor Gavin Newsom has proposed sending direct payments of $400 to Californians with one registered vehicle, and $800 to residents with two or more vehicles. Residents without cars won’t receive checks, but Newsom’s plan also calls for $750 million in aid to local public transit agencies. Republican lawmakers prefer a plan to suspend California’s gas tax.

High gas prices could have real political implications.

Republicans hope voters will be inclined to blame a Democratic White House for higher gas prices in the upcoming midterm elections.

“It would be very easy to drop fuel prices in California if the politics would change,” said LaCour.

This story was produced by Gitanjali Mahapatra, Debbie Martinez & Tracy Mejia

Over the last several months small business owners and working class people have struggled to stay afloat as prices for all kinds of goods and services rise.

The increase in prices — that sense you get that your dollar doesn’t stretch as far — is known as inflation.

Data from the U.S Bureau of Labor Statistics show that the price of most goods and services has increased 6.5% in the last year.

This increase has affected both consumers and business owners.

Aron Celnik owns Grandi Italiani, a small, family-run Italian restaurant. They have two locations and have struggled to keep the second location running due to the rising prices in the country.  

Celnik did raise his prices a while back however, but it hasn’t been enough to keep up. Celnik also said  the recent rise in gas prices has hurt business. Many people have decided to stay home and cook rather than spend money on going out to eat.

“Even though we’re a cafeteria style operation,” he says, “it’s going to cost 30-40 dollars to feed a family and some people are probably saying, ‘Okay, honey, do we take the kids out to eat tonight or do we fill up the gas tank?’ So that’s my biggest problem right now.” 

Inflation is just the latest trial that the owners of the restaurant Grandi Italiani have faced. Celnik considered closing in 2019. But after posting an ad on Facebook, Celnik says he received a flood of support both from customers and former workers. 

“The response was just mind-boggling,” says Celnik, “I had some former employees from another restaurant come in to help me out and it was just like gangbusters over here and so that told me ‘Okay, people really want us to stay here.’ ” 

In the years since — including through the pandemic — Celnik says he has not made a profit, but he continues to run his restaurant because of the passion he has for his business. He also says his employees depend on their income from his restaurant to provide for their families.

To make more of an income, Celnik says he charges an extra 20-percent when customers decide to use food delivery services like Uber Eats and Doordash. 

Government figures show gasoline prices have inflated 48% over the last year. A gallon of gas costs around $1.60  more than it did at this time last year, according to the Auto Club of Southern California.

Inflation has hurt many workers who drive for a living, like drivers for food delivery apps like UberEats and Doordash.  

Connor Grant is one of the many drivers who recently decided to quit driving for Doordash after gas prices rose too high. Grant was also inclined to leave Doordash because he had to worry about keeping up with the maintenance on his car; he says it got to be too much. 

“As far as everything maintenance wise, you’d go through tires, brake pads, all of that a lot quicker; oil changes every month or two and I did have to get a few repairs on my car just because, you know, with my job I’d easily be driving over 100 miles a day,” says Grant.

Compared to this time last year, gas prices have increased by around $1.60 per gallon, according to AAA.. Grant also says that had these changes been in place when he was working for the company, he might have considered staying. Grant quit doordash in February of this year due to gas expenses.

UberEats created a plan for their workers so that they can receive money for gas instead of paying most of it out of pocket. UberEats Driver Luis Muñoz says the company charges customers an additional 45 cents per delivery; this money goes directly to the delivery drivers to help cover the cost of their gas. 

Muñoz says inflation is affecting his earnings in other ways.

“I am seeing less on my tips,” Muñoz says. Referring to the amount of dollars in his tips, he says, “I used to get tens, fifteens, twenties, but now I am seeing more fives and tens.”

Grant meticulously tracked his expenses working for Doordash, using an Excel spreadsheet to help him manage his money. He calculated that 35-percent of his DoorDash income went into his vehicle. Grant, like Muñoz, says he had seen a decrease in the amount of the tips he received. 

Before quitting, Grant says he had to get a second job as an Amazon driver just to make ends meet. He also says he had to pick and choose what orders to take and determine whether or not the money was worth it. 

Though he ended up leaving the food delivery business, Grant says he regrets not working more during the rush of Doordash and has learned to seize opportunities.

“Never take anything for granted,” Grant said. “You know, when I was doing Doordash and it was really profitable and gas was really cheap you know you feel like it’s gonna last forever.”

This story was produced by Francisco Campos, Ruby Cordova & Jonathan Greenstein.

The Deaf and Hard of Hearing community has perhaps never been more visible — both in popular culture and in everyday life.

At the beginning of the COVID-19 crisis, American Sign Language interpreters were often present near politicians and other speakers at official pandemic press conferences.

Last year’s Marvel film Eternals featured the first Deaf superhero. The film “CODA” made history at the 2022 Oscars when it became the first film with a predominantly Deaf and Hard of Hearing cast to win Best Picture.

Despite this visibility, Deaf and Hard of Hearing people still encounter many barriers in public life.

And one basic pandemic safety precaution has added to those challenges: face masks.

While many Deaf people communicate using sign language, others find masks limiting, especially when many rely on lip reading. 

“Since the pandemic and COVID, I noticed it’s harder to communicate with masks,” said Mikaela Sorenson, a CSUN junior and president of Deaf CSUNians, a student organization that promotes issues relevant to Deaf and Hard of Hearing students. “I’m not able to read lips and I try to gesture with people to put down their masks … and sometimes we’re not allowed to do that.”

Sorenson would have to find other ways to communicate, such as writing back and forth or using a smartphone to exchange messages. 

With schools going virtual amid the pandemic, learning online proved difficult.

“With Zoom, you know, it’s very hard to see people, their expressions, with their cameras off,” ” said CSUN freshman Rosemary Vicente, “and it’s much easier when you’re in person and can see one another and your facial expressions.”

Internet issues also disrupt proper communication. 

“Most of the time, I try to say something and there’s interpreter lag and breaks in the conversation as they are sharing what I said,” says CSUN senior Jocelyn Angel.

Los Angeles County lifted its indoor Mask Mandate as of late February, but CSUN continues to require masks on campus. 

ASL interpreters still have to wear masks when working on campus. Though signs are made with the hands, ASL users say mouth movements and facial expressions are also important to clearly convey meaning in sign language.  

“It’s a little annoying because of masks,” Vicente said. “They can’t really read the interpreter as clearly as before. Only from their eyebrows and eyes are the expressions that we can make out so it makes it a little bit harder.”

Interpreters “do have clear masks — or they did — but now we’re also seeing that they become foggy, so that’s harder on the interpreter,” Sorenson added.

Clear masks became available during the pandemic. While they do improve communication slightly, they’re also more expensive — a bundle of 24 from Clearmask sells for $67 — and may offer less protection from COVID-19. 

Media representation of the Deaf and Hard of Hearing community has increased recently. with Songwriter Olivia Rodrigo and several other music stars at the 2022 Grammys  invited ASL interpreters to accompany them for red carpet interviews, CBS reported.

Actress Laura Ridloff, who’s Deaf, appears in a supporting role in ‘Eternals’ as Marvel’s first Deaf superhero.

“I thought it was cool to see representation… at the same time, I feel like it’s advertising about Deaf people and Deaf actors but then, you know, they’re not really featured in the film that much,” Sorenson said.

And as for the mask issue, there are solutions to help the Deaf and Hard of Hearing community.

“The best way is to really learn sign language,” said Sorenson. “That is the best way to communicate with us. It’s more direct as opposed to going through a third person, because the interpreters can misinterpret something.” 

“When I meet a hearing person and they see me sign, they are inspired and they want to learn and I’m happy to do that, but really it’s an independent choice,” added Vicente. 

Even learning the alphabet in ASL can be helpful. Another solution is using personal cellular devices and or apps for easier interactions. 

Darionna Jackson, who’s Deaf, hopes for some normalcy in the future.

“I wish there was less of a need to have masks on,” Jackson said, “that we could move forward so I can just chat with you all … The ugly truth is you really can’t express yourself with a mask. Your facial expressions, your happiness, all those things. I can’t see that because it’s covered by a mask.”

This story was reported by Stephanie Gurewitz, Noe Ortega, Mica Thomas & Sophia Vasquez

TikTok is perhaps the fastest growing social media platform in the world. Now boasting over 1 billion users, the TikTok app is filled with videos of pranks, stunts, jokes, dances. 

But some entrepreneurs have also found TikTok to be a good place to do business. With more than 200 million downloads in the United States alone, chances of TikTok viewers being potential customers are very high.

On TikTok, business owners are making short videos advertising the products they sell. These videos have led to many thousands of views which creates traffic to their other platforms and websites leading to newly founded brands selling out overnight. 

Growing a business on social media can be a tall task to ask but the unique engagement and algorithm — a recommendation system that determines which videos will appear on your ‘For You Page’ on TikTok — has made it possible for many small businesses to be successful. A viral video can jumpstart a business. 

To be successful on the platform you have to be consistent and keep up with trends and hashtags so the businesses can stay on users For You Pages. Businesses like Nectar Hard Seltzer and Nice Shirt Thanks are prime examples of small businesses that have taken advantage of this.

“What makes [TikTok] so powerful,” said Nectar’s founder, Jeremy Kim, “it’s simply that you can have a video and it can get posted — it could get seen by millions of people overnight for zero dollars and that’s what really separates it from everything else. Nothing like that exists on the planet.”

Prior to getting on TikTok, Kim tried to sell his seltzer — his company specializes in “Asian-inspired flavors” like lychee and Asian pear — to more than 200 California stores. At first, no stores picked up his product. . 

But on TikTok, Kim noticed how young users would film themselves singing in their bedrooms, go viral, and then sign deals with music labels. It gave Kim the idea to start using the app to get more exposure for his company. He documented the journey in TikTok videos, and shared his phone number on his company’s profile. He created a way to sell his product.

Kim, who runs his business out of a garage in Culver City, said a TikTok on his company’s profile went viral — and that kick-started their business. Stores began returning his phone calls. Around 650 stores in four states now sell Nectar Hard Seltzer, Kim said.

Mason Manning and Hayden Rankin founded their company Nice Shirt Thanks at the height of the pandemic. They  came up with a plan for a custom t-shirt company that allowed them to blend art and comedy. (One design:  “Giant mega bunny on adventure quested by intergalactic council.”)

Manning and Rankin’s initial TikTok video garnered just over a million views. With the video blowing up, their website and account became flooded with different requests from thousands of people who saw their video. Shortly after, they hired friends and family to help out with the business. They now operate out of a former funeral home in northern Illinois.

Kim, Manning and Rankin said that  maintaining their following on social media platforms  requires consistent posts and demands they cater to trends and popular hashtags.

“The part that we like that really separates [TikTok] from other platforms,” Rankin said, “is that it allows for a more intimate relationship with our customers and that they’re able to show off our products and we ask them to say, ‘Hey …  we’d like to show us your shirts, we’d love to see what you got.’”.

Nectar Seltzer currently has about 52,000 followers on TikTok.

Nice Shirt Thanks currently has a little more than 350,000 followers on TikTok and ships thousands of their customizable products monthly.

Kim, Manning and Rankin said they see the pitfalls of having to keep up with both the latest trends and TikTok’s algorithm.

Manning believes that being consistent on TikTok is much more difficult than other social media outlets because of how seemingly random the algorithm can be.

“It’s one of those apps where it’s harder to keep consistency,” Manning said. He added that TikTok is different from Instagram, “ where the more followers you get, the more consistent engagement you get. [On TikTok], you can get a viral video one day and a video gets not even 100 views the next.”

In order to get the greatest number of views possible on Nectar’s videos, Kim said his company often has to participate in a trending challenge, respond to popular hashtags or music. That can be tricky: How can he make posts that are  about the company — and that make sense — while also following the trends, since that’s what the app seems to want?

“How do I use Nectar? How do I use Asian flavors? How do I use the things people are thinking about in this product into that trend?” said Kim.

When asked where they will be without TikTok, Kim says he has no idea. He was in the music industry but he was burnt out.

Rankin initially saw his t-shirt business as a way to make money on the side while he was studying to go to law school.

“TikTok was just going to be the side hustle that I did during school,” Rankin said, “but that became the only thing I did outside school so I don’t know at this point I probably would have been still studying for my LSAT to go to law school next year.”

This story was produced and reported by Sofie Bredahl, David Reyes and Daniel Sandoval

There’s a word you often hear in debates about housing in L.A.: gentrification.

The term describes the many changes that follow when higher-income people move into neighborhoods that have historically been havens for lower-income residents.

Often, gentrification brings new resources into a community: new developments, new job opportunities and lower crime rates.

But often, gentrification also ends up forcing lower-income residents out of the neighborhood as rents or home prices rise, or as landlords and developers force their eviction.

According to the National Community Reinvestment Coalition, gentrification is a powerful force for economic change in cities, often accompanied by extreme and unnecessary cultural displacement.  

Across the U.S, the National Community Reinvestment Coalition found that gentrification displaced at least 135,000 Black and Hispanic residents from their neighborhoods and local independent businesses often face competition from new development and corporate chains. 

“Gentrification,” said Jackie Cornejo an economic analyst in the City of Los Angeles’ Housing and Community Investment Department, “is private corporate actors driving economic activity in a historically underinvested community, subsequently motivating private individual market actors—typically wealthier and wider folks to move in and displace poor residences and then attracting new economic activity once that said the neighborhood is quote-unquote transformed.”

Gentrification has displaced lower-income communities from several Los Angeles neighborhoods in the last decade: from  Hollywood, Silver Lake andEcho Park to North Hollywood to South Los Angeles.

“Gentrification affects housing affordability and the neighborhood character of the neighborhood cultural identity,” said Gustavo Leclerc, associate director of the Urban Humanities Initiative at  cityLAB UCLA, who has conducted research in lower-income and immigrant neighborhoods.

“The effects of gentrification typically have devastating and destabilizing effects on poor people of color,” Cornejo added.

While new development often riles neighbors, Cornejo said, “not every single kind of development should be considered gentrification, because at the end of the day underinvested communities should have grocery stores, parks, better schools, improved sidewalks, clean portable housing and all these other amenities that hire resources.”

Los Angeles can make it possible to build new developments/housing without displacing underprivileged communities. 

Cornejo said the state expects L.A. to accommodate 46,000 units of housing over an 8 year period.

“We have to build in order to address the existing need and future needs,” Cornejo said. “We have to do all that by making sure that we protect tenants, that there’s no net loss of housing, and to open up high resource neighborhoods. These neighborhoods have historically excluded housing production, and we have a tremendous opportunity to do that right now.”

The City council has approved the plan, but will need to revise the plan so the state can certify it. 

Swap meet closure raises questions about redevelopment

As developers search for new projects in certain neighborhoods, they’ve turned their attention to redeveloping a Southern California staple: swap meets.

The Union Swap Meet in East Hollywood was shut down to make way for apartments and a retail complex. The San Bernardino swap meet shutting down for affordable student housing and new workforce training facilities.

In North Hollywood, another swap meet is also closing for good.

Angelica Martinez, who sells toys at the North Hollywood swap meet, believes the market will be razed to build luxury apartments. Other new apartments have gone up nearby.

In a letter to vendors, the swap meet’s owners said they were unable to renew the lease with their landlord. The owner, Fred Kim, declined to comment to On Point.

Vendors at the North Hollywood Swap Meet received the letter from the market’s owners on Mid-February. The letter said business owners will have until the end of March to vacate their stalls.

Martinez is not sure what she’s going to do with all her inventory and is unsure of how she’s going to get by, financially, after the swap meet closes.

“What are we going to do? … One month warning wasn’t enough,” Martinez said.

Martinez is paying $700 dollars per month. Says a station at another swap meet can cost up to $3,000.

“My location isn’t that big,” she said, “but what I had would help me pay my bills.”

Martinez said a petition to keep the swap meet open has been going around. She hopes public outcry can save the businesses there.

This show was produced by Gitanjali Mahapatra, Debbie Martinez & Tracy Mejia

The pandemic has changed how colleges and universities operate in drastic ways.

Many classes moved online — and many students re-examined their plans.

According to the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center, U.S. colleges and universities have seen a 5.1% decrease in enrollment over the last two years.

One reason behind the drop: some prospective or current students started to ask, “Is college really worth it?”

According to MyStudentVoices, 33% of college graduates do not have jobs in their field.

Valerie Patterson, a senior at California State University Northridge, feels that colleges are manipulating young minds into going to college.

“When I was a senior in high school,” Patterson said, “teachers were like, ‘Oh you need to go to college’ … and then they would have college fairs and go to colleges to look at them.”

“I don’t think you need college to be successful,” said Brenna White, another senior at CSUN, “but college is a great thing, though it’s not necessary.”

However, White says college helps students launch  careers. Instead of a community college, White decided to attend a 4-year university with motivation from her parents. She endures a regular 4-hour round trip commute from her home to the CSUN campus.  She admits it was a struggle in the beginning and admits to having doubts in her educational path. But White believes going to college helped her find her career path and could not be happier.

COVID-19 is one of several factors that have decreased enrollment at CSUN in recent years.

Director of admissions Aaron Lindberg says that in Fall 2020, CSUN had 49,000 students enrolled. In 2021, Lindberg says the university enrolled 43,600 students – an 11% decrease from the year before.

Enrollment decreased another 3% by the start of the Fall 2022 semester. CSUN then enrolled 42,200 students. Lindberg also talks about the birth rates declining. 

“At a national level we are experiencing what is called, ‘the demographic cliff,’ meaning at the Great recession, which was in 2008, the birth rates declined substantially. Now …  there’s just less students of college age these days.”

Lindberg says that some of this decrease in enrollment applications coincides with COVID-19,. Students’ financial burdens have taken a toll.

Anthony Mata originally attended Pierce College but says he had to drop out due to financial issues with his college.

“I would go to the financial office to try and get my FAFSA and see why it isn’t in my account,” recalled Mata, “and they told me that they didn’t have any records of my high school diploma or any credentials and they couldn’t give me my money for the financial aid.”

“So I kind of had to fight with them,” Mata continued, “but yeah I couldn’t pay for that year, for the tuition, for books and everything so I dropped out ‘cause I was only working, like, maybe 18 hours max a week and I was not making enough money to cover anything.”

Mata thinks that colleges should do a better job with handling student finances. He also has thought about returning to school. 

For many people, online learning became a major struggle and contributed to many college students’ desire to leave school. Mata says he likes in person classes more than being online.

“I’m a very, like, in-person, hands-on learner so I really like that communication with the professor and being able to like go to them for any  questions and like explain it thoroughly,” said Mata, “With this, it was kind of like oh here’s my times try to message me at this time I will get to you when I can”.

Bobbi Korthius says that online learning destroyed her educational drive: “I wouldn’t pay $1,200 to read a book and try to teach myself. I can just go online and read a book if I want to learn about [a subject].”. 

Korthius attended Denver University, but found a government job and now says she didn’t need college in order to find a successful job in life. 

Korthuis also thought that she wasn’t learning enough from how much she had to pay for online learning. She believes that tuition should have been cheaper since all of her classes were full. Mata says that he too struggled with online learning, along with financial issues; this too was a main motivator to drop out. 

He says he’s more of a hands-on learner and could not grasp the idea of teaching yourself an entire textbook.

White said that online classes helped her by saving her a long commute from the Inland Empire to the San Fernando Valley. The online environment even helped her find more time to talk  with her professors in a classroom setting, she feels conversations are often cut short.

However, White also admitted to missing campus life and in-person interactions and now tries to go to campus as much as possible.

This show was produced by Francisco Campos, Ruby Cordova & Jonathan Greenstein

Street vending in Los Angeles is a major part of the city’s culture. Every night, vendors gather on sidewalks to sell everything from tacos, to tamales; to the famous Mexican street corn, elote.

But while many Angelenos frequently support these micro businesses, few understand the true price street vendors pay — and the challenges they face — to support themselves and their families. 

Street vendors are faced with permit fees, tickets from law enforcement, harassment, and even vandalism from competing business owners. Activists say there’s also tension between public health investigators, law enforcement, and street vendors. Activists say law enforcement officers often aggressively police street vendors.

“Armed enforcement doesn’t go in force for brick and mortar businesses,” said Lyric Kelkar, the policy director at Inclusive Action for the city, a community development organization. “Why are they doing this to street vendors … a predominantly immigrant population? It’s very intimidating and unnecessary.”

Vendors like Maria Gil have no choice but to continue their business as it is their means of making a living.

“We aren’t afraid,” said Gil, “We keep going forward because this is our job.”

In a statement, a spokesperson for the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health says that as a result of multiple physical attacks, investigators are now accompanied by law enforcement officers on their visits. 

California lawmakers legalized street vending with the Safe Sidewalk Vending Act in 2018, but some vendors have continued to struggle to keep up with the regulations they must follow to legally run their businesses.

Vendors must now obtain a sidewalk vending permit, business tax registration certificate, seller’s permit, and an L.A. County Public Health permit. The costs of these add up. An annual sidewalk vending permit is $541, business tax registration permits range from $50-$100, and the public health permit is $291.

Janette Villafana, a multimedia journalist for L.A. Taco, who has reported on street vending, says many vendors have found the permit from the Public Health Department the most difficult to obtain.  

“In 2020, only 165 permits were given,” Villafana said, “out of over about 10,000 street vendors in L.A. That alone tells you everything.”

“The requirements asked from the Health Department are simply not written with street vendors in mind,” Villafana added.

In a statement, a spokesperson said the health department’s  investigators ensure food sanitation and health and safety standards are being followed.

Some of the requirements vendors must meet to obtain a permit include; giving food handlers access to a restroom and providing proper equipment to keep food at required temperatures. But many street vendors simply don’t have the space and finances to meet these requirements. Public Health inspectors have the authority to confiscate equipment and merchandise if they find that a vendor has not met  these requirements.

Street vendors not only make a cultural impact on the city, but they also bring staple goods and services directly to the community.

Vendors are often a source of  fresh produce and affordable, quality food in their neighborhoods. 

Kelkar says street vendors are often the source for healthy produce in communities that don’t have access to them.

“They’re incredible contributions to our local economies,” said Kelkar. 

While considering the health and safety of the public, both Kelkar and Villafana agree that the requirements asked of street vendors are very restrictive.

“They’re just out there trying to make a living…just sharing their food and culture with everybody else,” Villafana said.

This story was produced by Stephanie Gurewitz, Noe Ortega, Mica Thomas & Sophia Vasquez

Non-fungible tokens — or NFTs — are changing the digital world as we know it.

In total, collectors have spent billions of dollars to own JPEG image files — images that could depict anything from a baseball card to a concert ticket to even a mural or portrait. On the NFT market, some of these files hold as much value as some of the world’s most famous art pieces.

Interest in these images is growing. In 2020, Dapp Radar says NFT sales totaled less than $100 million. Last year, sales  skyrocketed to more than $24 billion.

In Dec. 2021, sold for over $90 million, with about 30,000 people pooled together more than $90 million to purchase an NFT piece called “The Merge.” Each contributor now owns a small piece of the NFT..

There are still so many unanswered questions about NFTs: Could NFTs be used for  money laundering? Who could prevent someone from copying an NFT and claiming it as their own? Are NFTs just another means for the rich to get richer?

To Adrian Swish, an NFT advisor and CEO of his own digital music company Digital Currensy, the biggest issue is the lack of regulation. Swish said there are methods for tracking NFT transactions publicly — but it’s not clear who is responsible for overseeing this new market, and how much oversight there should be.

“It’s the wild wild west,” Swish said. “We’re still trying to figure it out.”

“There’s too many people losing money — too many frauds and scams, that can turn people away from getting in” to the NFT market, said Jon Healey, senior editor for utility journalism at the L.A. Times.

According to Expensivity,  anyone hoping to purchase NFTs must pay using cryptocurrency, specifically Ethereum; NFT sellers don’t accept traditional currency. 

Swish says many NFT sales are not only about making money but can help  bring awareness to an issue or help charitable causes. An NFT project made by Mike Winklemann, who goes by Beeple, sold for $6 million dollars and the proceeds went to the Open Earth Foundation to fight climate change. Other NFT projects like the Dainty Dolphins were created to bring awareness of the endangered species, as well as other projects that are similar.

Swish urges anyone interested in getting into NFTs, that it can be used for things much bigger than making money.

“Educate yourself,” Swish said, “and then figure out how you can maximize it, understanding the technology… think bigger than trying to make money, make an impact.”

The reach of NFTs isn’t just art, it can range from sports trading cards, moments in time captured in small clips to even a ticket to the movies, concerts, etc.

This year the Super Bowl released commemorative NFT tickets from NFL and Ticketmaster. Although these tickets couldn’t get you in the game, you can resell for hundreds or even thousands more than what you bought it for.

What does the future of NFTs look like?

Los Angeles Times Editor Jon Healey thinks something will have to be done about possible fraud. Beyond that, he said, “there’s a lot of imagination still to be applied and that’s when it’s going to get interesting.”

“I see it as the Industrial Revolution,” Swish said. “You have a new set of technology and everyone is racing to redefine their industry.” 

This story was produced by Sofie Bredahl, David Reyes and Daniel Sandoval.